The Meal Algorithm: Thai weekend, may be?

Turns out its not really a alone weekend for me then.
The husband has decided to make guest appearances amidst all his travels, and I have plans lined up with friends. But then, when isn’t that the case! :) (I know… even at times when I feel that I need some time for myself, I cannot but think how lucky I am to be blessed with so many friends, that I can never be lonely. Alone yes, lonely, never! :) )

Since guest appearances have to be honoured with something special always, and since this particular guest also has all meals of his day this weekend planned out, I did not want to overwhelm his stomach with anything heavy. Not making anything wasn’t an option, coz I still had to eat. And cooking for one is not really fun if you have to do it 5 times in the same week. So I decided to go with something light on the stomach.

Now, Hyderabad is not as chilly as I would’ve liked it to be, but people say its quite cold. The first time this season I felt the chill was when I was having dinner with a friend in a roof-top restaurant. She said she was cold, and I said it was quite pleasant. (Oh well… I am someone who has stayed out in the night at 10 PM in Seattle with nothing on me except a thin T-shirt and linen shorts , on what was the coldest night that week. I didn’t even have cash or a mobile phone at hand, but that’s another story. And yes, I lived to tell the tale.)

And every blog I go to talks about making pumpkin soup to beat the chill… and yes, I got piqued. Pumpkin is something I have not worked with before. I have never tasted a pumpkin, and I do not even know how to say if it is ripe enough or not. But this morning at the vegetable market, I saw Shal, my friend buy a slice of pumpkin. I asked her what she did with it, and she went on to give me options on what all you can do with it. And that’s how I got thinking. I asked the vendor to cut me a slice of ripe pumpkin and got home thinking about what to make with it, and what herbs would go well with this. Oh yes, I have been thinking about what should get into this soup since morning, and by evening I had a pretty good idea. I know, I know… the processor is kinda slow that way :).

It had to be something spicy, something with stuff I had at home and had to adhere to the weekend rule. The rule that says -

Thou shalt not spend more than 30 mins in the kitchen on a weekend.

So I grabbed the stuff I had in the fridge, and in my kitchen garden (yeah, I am a big show-off that way :-P ) and got to work.
Since just a soup isn’t enough to feed two people for dinner, I also decided to make some salad. And since the garden largely supports the Thai theme, that was what it had to be.

The guest who also happens to be my alpha, beta and only tester , testified that he loved both the soup and the salad. The spices were just-enough and he loved the blend and taste of pumpkin. So then, pumpkin is here to stay in the household afterall.

Thai Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients
Pumpkins – diced and cubed – 2 cups
Onion – small sized, sliced – enough to fit in 1/2 cup
Garlic cloves – diced – 6
Turmeric – a pinch
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
Red chilli – 1
Olive Oil – 1 tbsp

Thai Basil leaves – 10-12 – shredded
Lemon Grass – 1 stalk
Diced Coconut – 1/4 cup (or coconut milk)
Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
Onion – small sized, sliced – enough to fit in 1/4 cup
Red chilli - 1
Salt – to taste

Instructions

Microwave the pumpkins at full power for 2 mins, so that they are slightly cooked and do not take a long time to cook on the stove.
Heat oil in a pan, and sauté the onions, garlic, cumin and red chilli in it. Add the microwaved pumpkin pieces to this , sprinkle turmeric and cook for about 5 mins, or till the pumpkin is roasted/cooked. Once cooked, remove this from heat and let it cool.

In a blender, mix the onion slices, coconut, coriander, another red chilli and the roasted/cooked pumpkin till it becomes into a pulp. You might have some coconut pieces even after the pulp is all done, let them be as is.

Heat this on the stove in the pan again. Knot the lemon grass stalk and put it in the pulp mixture. Add half the basil leaves to this and salt to taste and bring this pulp to a boil. You can add water to dilute it and suit your consistency.

Garnish with the remaining basil leaves, and serve hot. This recipe make 2 big cups of pumpkin soup.

Cucumber salad (with Thai dressing)

Ingredients
Cucumber – peeled, cut into 1 inch long sized pieces – 1

For the dressing
Juice of half a lemon
Soya sauce - 1/2 tsp
Roasted peanuts – crushed – 1/4 cup
Red chilli flakes – 1/2 tsp

For the Garnish
Green pepper & Oregano – enough to sprinkle on the salad
Coriander (Cilantro ) leaves – Just a handful